[KH] Bound by Fire: Roxas and Xion

Bound by Fire, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic series by Raberba girl

Part 3 of 6 - Roxas and Xion (rough draft)

Summary:  They made a promise to each other, and both of them are determined to keep it.

A/N:  Modern AU.  Roxas & Xion are both ten years old.  Unfortunately, Axel ended up with way more screentime than either Rox or Xi.  Stupid Axel.

There's a kiss in this one, but it's not romantic.

Prologue

"So we'll really do it?  We'll really meet here again on the last day of summer?"

"Yeah.  It's a promise, okay?"

"Okay.  I'll be waiting."

o.o.o

The only reason Axel was awake this early during summer vacation was because he was pet-sitting and had to feed the neighbor's dog.  He was a little surprised to see Roxas dragging his bike out of the garage rather than parked in front of morning cartoons with cereal, but he was still half-asleep and didn't think much of it.  "You going out for a ride?"

"Yeah," Roxas said as he snapped the clasp of the bike helmet under his chin.

"That's good.  See you later, okay?"

"Okay.  Bye, Axel."

Axel walked down the street, opened the gate, fended off the uber-excited German Shepherd, popped the lid off a can of dog food, refilled the water bucket, then trudged home again and went back to bed.

He woke up properly a few hours later.

"Axel?" his mother asked as he came into the kitchen, "Do you know where your brother is?"

"He was going out for a bike ride last time I saw him.  What, he hasn't come back yet?"

"No...and I'm a little worried.  Do you think you could--?"

"Yeah," Axel said at once, turning right back around.

"Well, wait, Axel, have you eaten yet?"

"No, but I'll be fine."

"Axel!"

"See you later, Mom."

She marched over and jabbed him so hard in the ribs that he yelped.  "Axel Deucalion Hayes, you come right back here and park your butt in that chair until you've got some protein in you.  I can almost fit my thumb and finger entirely around your wrist, that is wrong."

"Mom!" he cried as she actually demonstrated.  "Cut it out, I'll eat!"  After placating her as quickly as possible, he got up again and headed out on his own bike.

Axel was not particularly worried until he realized that Roxas was not in the neighborhood, at which point he frowned.  "Now, where did you take off to, little buddy?"  Hayner's house, maybe.  Axel biked over there and listened for the sound of kids playing as he waited for someone to open the door, but he didn't hear his brother's voice.

"Oh!  Hello, Axel," Hayner's mother exclaimed when she opened the door.  "Did Hayner invite friends over without telling me again?"

"Dunno.  Is Roxas here?"

"Well, I'll see."  She turned away, her mild tone suddenly exploding into a carrying shout.  "HAYNER!"

"What?" her son's voice yelled back.

"I TOLD YOU, NO GUESTS WITHOUT PERMISSION!"

"I didn't invite anyone over without permission!"

"WHERE'S ROXAS, THEN?"

"How should I know!?" Hayner screeched back.

"BECAUSE HE'S YOUR BEST FRIEND!"

'No,' Axel thought.  'I don't care how much fun the two of them have playing together.  Roxas's best friend is someone else.'

"Since when has Roxas been my best friend?" Hayner was yelling.

"SINCE YOU AND SEIFER DECIDED YOU WERE NO LONGER ON SPEAKING TERMS!"

"DON'T EVER SAY THAT LOSER'S NAME AGAIN!  GAH!"

"Mind if I go talk to him?" Axel asked.

She smiled and waved a hand invitingly, her voice all sweetness again.  "Go ahead, dear."

Axel went out to the backyard, where Hayner was apparently trying to set something on fire.  'Kindred spirit,' Axel thought in amusement.  "'Sup, Hayner."

"Oh," the boy said in surprise.  "So that's why she was asking...."  A defensive look came over his face.  "Roxas ain't here."

"Geez, I was just checking.  We haven't seen him for hours, and I figured he might be with you because he's over here so often and all."  Axel grinned.  "Now that you and Seifer are no longer on speaking terms."

"I TOLD you not to say his name!"

"So what do you call him, then?  'That Guy With The Exposed Bellybutton'?"

Hayner stared at him in wordless horror.

Axel laughed again.  "So you haven't seen or heard from Roxas at all today?"

"No," the younger boy mumbled sullenly.

Something about the way he said it caught Axel's attention.  "...At all?"

"Get off my back, man."

Axel fixed him with a serious look.  "Hayner.  Roxas is my little brother.  I'm kind of worried about him.  If he's doing something dangerous and something bad happens to him, and I could have prevented it if I'd only known a little more about what he's up to...."  He set a hand on the kid's shoulder.  His grip, though not particularly tight, was very meaningful.

Hayner nervously looked at the hand on his shoulder.  "Roxas went home," he finally mumbled.

Axel smiled a little and clapped Hayner's shoulder.  "Thanks."

He biked back to the house, but to his surprise, Roxas wasn't there like he expected.  "Mom?  Did Roxas turn up while I was out?"

She frowned.  "No, unless he sneaked in when I didn't notice."

"I'll check his room."

Empty.  Roxas wasn't anywhere in the house.  "Argh, where are you?!"

This time, he took the car.  Perusing the streets didn't do any good; no luck at the school or the park or the Skaters' Playground; then it suddenly occurred to Axel that their current residence had only been so for a few months.  It was very possible that Roxas might not yet consider it to be his "home."

"Dad," Roxas had asked yesterday, "can you show me something on the roadmap?"

Axel swore, jerked the car around, and headed for the highway.

o.o.o.o.o

'I am never having kids,' Axel thought multiple times during that drive.  'Because if I love them even half this much and something horrible ever happens to them, it'll kill me.'

There, in the wildflowers near the road.  A small slumped figure, staring off into the distance beside a fallen bike.

Axel pulled over, stumbled out of the car, and had his arms around Roxas in seconds.

"Axel," his little brother said softly, "I'm so tired."

"What were you thinking?" Axel yelled.  Roxas just closed his eyes.  "You were going to Twilight Town?!"

"I promised Xion," Roxas whispered.  "We said we'd meet on the clock tower at sunset, the last day of summer vacation.  But...it's been so long, and I'm still so far away, and I don't know if I can get there now before the sun sets, and I ate everything I brought but I'm still so hungry...."

"Roxas," Axel said in exasperation, "it's 270 miles away.  It'd take you at least three days to get there on your bike, probably more."

Roxas stared at him in dismay.  "So I should have left three days ago?"

"NO!  You're ten!  You can't ride 270 miles alone on a bike, are you crazy?!"

Roxas didn't say anything.  There was no need for him to, his heartbroken expression was enough.

"Rox...c'mon, don't look at me like that...."

"I promised her," Roxas whispered.  One of the tears slipped quietly down his cheek.

"Dang it, Roxas, I told you not to look at me like that!"

o.o.o.o.o

Saïx frowned and looked up from the computer.  It sounded like someone had just gone out the front door.  "Xion?" he called loudly.

No answer.  He swiftly got up and went outside, where his younger sister was hurrying down the front walk.  "Xion Mya Acerbi, come back here now."

She jerked to a stop and turned to face him, but though she shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, she didn't move any closer to the house.  "Saïx...."

"Just what do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

"I have to go out for a little bit," she mumbled.

"You have to go out for a little bit," he repeated scathingly.  "I suppose you think it's a splendid idea to get me in trouble by leaving the house when you're under my charge, without telling me, near nightfall, so you can get caught by one of those shadow monsters that have been showing up again."

"I wasn't trying to get you in trouble!" she protested.  "I just...I have to meet someone, it's really important, and I knew you wouldn't let me go but I swear I'll be back before Mom and Dad get home--"

"And just who is it, exactly, that you so desperately have to meet?"

"Um...Roxas...we're gonna eat ice cream."

He stared at her.  "Roxas?"

"Yeah."

"What does that boy or his brother have to do with anything?"

"I...we...we promised we'd meet again, one last time before school started...."

"Xion.  They live 270 miles away now.  They're not going to drive all the way down here just so you can have ice cream."

Her eyes started to fill with tears.  "But...but we...we promised."

"Not all promises are kept," he said shortly.  "Get inside.  You do not want to make me drag you back by force."

Xion cried and pleaded, but it did nothing to sway him, and she finally screamed that she hated him and ran to her room to slam the door shut and cry in earnest.

Saïx went back to filling out applications, but his sister's muffled, heartbroken wails were distracting, even when he shut the hall door.  He finally sighed and reached for his phone.  Perhaps she would calm down and stop this nonsense if she could talk to her little friend.

"Yes, it's me," he said when Axel picked up.  "I'm calling because of Xion, she's being ridiculous...."  After he explained the situation, he listened to the other's own explanation.  His eyes widened.  "What?  ...  You mean to tell me that you really--?  ...  But it'll take you five hours.  ...  Axel Hayes, that child owns your soul.  This cannot be good for you."  He sighed.  "Yes, very well."

After hanging up, he went to knock on Xion's bedroom door.

"Go away!" she screamed.

"Oh.  I suppose you don't want me to let you go out, then."

There was a mad scramble from behind the door, which was then flung open to reveal Xion's tear-streaked, frazzled expression.  "You...you're...letting me go?"

"Put your shoes on and wait for me by the front door."

"Y-You're coming with me?" she realized in astonishment.

"Of course I am, you're my responsibility right now.  I'm not going to let any shadow monster get even close to my sister.  ...  Don't just stand there gawking at me, hurry up.  You're costing me a great deal of time and inconvenience."

She flung her arms around him.  "Thank you," she whispered.

"Don't hug me."

"Why not?" she demanded.

"For one thing, I hardly warrant such affection from you."  He stooped to try to pry her off, so that his hair brushed against her face.

"You're my brother.  I can hug you if I want.  I can kiss you, too."

"Don't--" he started to exclaim, too late to avoid the kiss she smacked on his nose.  "Ugh."

By the time he had saved the applications, fetched a few things he would need, and was putting his shoes on, Xion was nearly dancing with impatience.  "Saïx, hurry up, it's almost sunset!"

"Don't rush me."

"If I hadn't had to wait for you, I could've been there by now!"

"Stop exaggerating.  And anyway, it's not safe.  Stop fretting, you'll see Roxas soon enough."

She stared at him.  "I thought you said he wouldn't come because he lives a million miles away."

Saïx gazed at her for a moment.  "He promised he would come."

"But you said sometimes people break promises!"

"Maybe he won't.  Let's give him a chance."

She burst into tears.  "You're so confusing!"

"So are you," he grumbled.  Uncomfortably, he laid a hand on her head after a moment.  "Stop crying."

"What if he doesn't come?  What if he doesn't come...?"

"Then I'll buy you some ice cream and you can talk to him on the phone and make the best of it, now hush.  You don't even have any reason to cry yet."

She sniffled.  "That's true.  Saïx, I miss him.  I really miss him a lot."

"Xion...."  Saïx sighed and leaned down to brush the tears away from her cheeks.  "I am not impressed by your lack of faith.  Do you honestly believe that distance and a broken promise can sever the bond between you and your friend so easily?"

"...Me and Roxas will be friends no matter what," she whispered.  "Forever."

"That's what I thought.  Stop acting like this is the end of the world, and get in the car."

o.o.o.o.o

Roxas was in tears.  "I messed up.  She'll hate me.  She won't want to be my friend anymore.  I broke my promise."

"Roxas, we're ten minutes away," Axel said in exasperation.  "Stop acting like it's the end of the world."

"But we said sunset!  It's dark now!"

"Roxas, trust me, she is not going to obsess over the details."

Still, as soon as Axel stopped the car, his brother hurled himself out and ran for the clock tower.  Rolling his eyes a little, Axel climbed out and stretched.  "Whew!  Five hours of driving with a spazzy kid and no snacks and no good music - I never want to do that ever again."

"There's plenty of pizza left, if you want it," a voice called out.

Axel broke into a grin and jogged over to where his best friend was sitting on the station steps with a book beside a box of half-eaten pizza.

"You had it delivered here?"

"Xion hadn't eaten supper yet.  I couldn't think of any better way to feed her."

"Works for me, man; I'm starving."  He inhaled two or three slices in what felt like as many seconds, then looked up to find Saïx gazing at him in silent disgust.  "What?"

"...I've seen four-year-olds eat tidier than that."

Axel laughed and swiped tomato sauce off his chin.  "If you're talking about Zexion, he doesn't count.  That kid's a born neat freak."

Saïx shook his head and leaned back, bracing his hands against the steps.  "So the drive was rough?"

"Oh, man, understatement of the week."

"I find it difficult to imagine that your parents would condone such a trip on the very evening before school starts."

Axel laughed sheepishly.  "Um, they kinda didn't.  I'm gonna be in so much friggin' trouble when I get home...that is, if I don't sleep through their ranting.  It's probably gonna be 2:00 in the morning by the time we get back."

Saïx shook his head.  "I told you this soul-owning business was bad for you."

"But I can't help iiiiiit!  They look at me with their big blue eyes and I just, my heart, it's like - mrgh."

"You're pathetic."

"Man, I was gonna say 'It's good to see you again,' but now I think I won't, hah."

"Childish as ever, I see.  In contrast, I maturely confess that I am glad to see you as well."

"Maybe we should start our own little annual reunion thing, too."

"Sacred moon, they're not going to do this again, are they?"

Axel laughed.  "Why should you care?  You're not the one who's gonna have to drive five hours back to Twilight Town every year to make it happen."

"Axel, if Roxas burst into tears and made puppy eyes at you and asked you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?"

"Roxas is never gonna ask me to jump off a cliff!"

"If he did.  Theoretically."

"I...I dunno, I...I mean, he'd never...I guess n--"

"Axel!  This is not a question you're supposed to need to think about!"

"Oh.  Well, yeah, I knew that."

o.o.o.o.o

It was dark, and cold.  Xion squeezed her arms tighter around her knees and tried to keep the tears from spilling out down her cheeks.  She had been waiting...waiting and waiting....  The sky had gone darker and darker, fading slowly but steadily to orange to red to navy to black, and now the stars were out and he wasn't coming.

She wondered yet again, the anxiety seeming to drive through her chest, if maybe Roxas had been there, but she'd been late and he left.  She hadn't been able to get here right at sunset, thanks to stupid Saïx.  But she'd finally gone down and asked Saïx and he said of course Roxas hadn't come just to leave again as soon as the lower rim of the sun touched the horizon, that was ridiculous.  And she'd said How do you know? and he'd said I just do and then he made her eat pizza even though she wasn't hungry.  She thought she was going to be sick.

"Roxas," she whispered, "I'm so sorry."  If only she'd tried to leave a little earlier...if only she'd been more careful for Saïx not to hear her--

"Xion!"

"Roxas!" she screamed before even turning around.  For a second, as she scrambled to get to her feet, she wondered if she'd only imagined his voice; but no, he really was here, barreling around the corner.  She rushed to him and flung herself at him and burst into tears as his arms came around her and hugged her tightly.  "I thought you weren't coming!" she wailed.  "I thought you weren't coming...."

"Xion, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I tried to come but I was stupid and I didn't know I couldn't ride my bike here and I got really tired and then Axel was late and I tried to get here at sunset but I messed up, I'm really sorry, please don't cry...please...."

It wasn't until they discovered what had become of the ice cream bars each of them had brought that they burst into laughter and their spirits lifted:  each bag was fat with completely liquefied ice cream, the wooden sticks floating leisurely within; Roxas's package wasn't even the least bit cold anymore.

"Should we still eat them?" Xion asked dubiously.  "Well...drink them?"

Roxas shrugged.  "We promised we would, didn't we?"

Drinking the melted ice cream was a little gross, but it didn't matter.  The truly sweet part was getting to sit next to her best friend in the entire world, watching the stars and talking; didn't matter about what, as long as she got to bask in the warmth of his voice and his friendship.

'I wish we could stay like this forever.'

o.o.o.o.o

It was easier when she didn't need adult supervision.

Xion made her way up to the top of the clock tower, her steps reluctant.  Hope and resignation seemed to war in her chest.  'He's not coming,' she told herself firmly.  'Stop trying to get your hopes up.'

Although she and Roxas had been faithful to meet each other every year at the close of summer all throughout junior high school, they were older now and had, unfortunately, drifted farther apart than she'd ever thought they would.  Roxas had not been able to make it to Twilight Town for the start of their first year of high school, and last year he simply had not showed up, nor left any messages.

'This is the last time, Xi,' she told herself.  'Look at the stars and be lonely and say goodbye.  Then you can move on.  You'll see him around, but this whole meet-on-the-clock-tower thing is for kids.'  She rounded the corner - and froze.

He was so big.  Well, tall, at least; still fairly slim, but with muscles in his arms and beneath his shirt (since when had he started wearing tight-fitting shirts, anyway?) that were definitely more impressive than they'd used to be.  That wild hair of his was gone, tamed into a short crop that she rather wanted to scrub her fingers through.

His big blue eyes, though, when he looked at her, were exactly the same....

"Xion!"  He leaped up and ran to her, beaming.  "You came!"

"So did you!" she exclaimed, surprised and delighted.

"I...I forgot about last year, I think," he said questioningly.

"Yeah, you did."

He fidgeted guiltily.  "I'm sorry, Xi...."

She slapped a hand across his butt, making him yelp, then wrapped her arms around his chest in a tight hug.  "I'm glad you're here now.  I missed you."

"I missed you, too," he said softly, bringing his arms up to return the hug.  "I didn't realize how much until now."

"Took me for granted, huh."

"No!"  Then he paused.  "Well...yeah.  I guess so.  I'm sorry, Xi."

She felt him hesitate, and then, to her surprise, he leaned down and smacked his lips against hers in a quick, slightly off-center kiss.

There was a long pause.

"Ummm," he finally said in embarrassment.

"Can we...not do that again?" she asked awkwardly, and he gave a sheepish laugh and said, "Yeah.  Sorry.  ...I just thought--"

"I dunno--"

"Yeah."

They smiled at each other again, cheeks slightly pink.  Then he hugged her again in a brotherly way and she affectionately patted her hand across his cropped head, and the balance between them seemed to settle again.

"Roxas?"

"Yeah?"

"I didn't bring any ice cream," she confessed.  It was worse eating ice cream alone than it was eating none.

"That's okay, I brought two."

"Really?" she gasped.

He grinned and handed her a bar, only just a little melted.

"Yay!"

"My treat, since I messed up last year."

"Oh, good, I can forgive you now," she teased.

"I'm sorryyyyy!"

"Don't worry, it's okay now.  Really."  They went to sit on the ledge and eat their ice cream and talk until long past nightfall, just as they would for years to come.

o.o.o

Author's Notes:  This was the fic I came up with Xion's middle name for, since she doesn't have one in the Stepsibsverse.  (I use Acerbi as a surname when she and Sai are siblings, but not when they're unrelated.)  Mya is the best I could get from "Myosotis" (Forget-me-not flowers).